Daily Lectionary | Exodus 12 and Matthew 15:1-28
Exodus 12
Summary
Exodus 12 is a monumental chapter of the Bible. In it, we read about the paradigmatic event of redemption: the exodus and redemption of God’s people on the heels of the tenth plague.
In verses 1-28, the Lord gives Moses specific instructions about the Passover meal that they will keep. Each household is to take a lamb, slaughter it, and display the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and lintel of their houses. Then they are to eat the sacrificial lamb. They are to eat this Passover in haste and ready to go: “with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover” (Ex. 12:11).
The Lord will “pass over” the land and strike the firstborn of the land, just as Pharaoh had struck down the children of Israel in Exodus 2. The LORD gave Pharaoh an opportunity to repent, but he refused, so he and his people face a final judgment. This will also be a judgment on the “gods of Egypt.”
The blood is a sign, and when the Lord sees the sign he promises to pass over. Just like the rainbow in Genesis 9, which also was a sign for God to “see” and remember his covenant, so this Passover sign will work in similar way.
The first Passover will be unique, but it will be a memorial and feast day for Israel forever and associated with the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, which will be described more in chapter 13.
So Moses gives instructions about this Passover feast families are to keep. The meal will become instructive in passing down the faith: “And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover…” (Ex. 12:26).
The tenth plague then happens. Finally, Pharaoh tells Moses to go out and serve the Lord. Pharaoh, under duress of God’s judgment, releases the slaves. The Egyptians send the Hebrews packing, but with gold and silver: ‘Thus they plundered the Egyptians.”
The 430 year sojourn in Egypt was now over.
The chapter ends with the institution of the Passover. Outsiders may not eat it, but only those of the congregation who are circumcised, who have received this sign of covenant inclusion.
Reflection
Consider the events of the Passover. How do they foreshadow the work of Christ and the institution of the Lord’s Supper? How might we think of the Lord’s Supper as a memorial sign in the way the displayed blood is a memorial sign at the Passover?
Matthew 15
Summary
The Pharisees are upset that Jesus and his disciples do not keep the “traditions of the elders.” Jesus is concerned about something more fundamental: the Pharisees don’t keep the actual law of God (the real tradition!). In fact, they look for excuses to sort of keep the law while breaking it. Yet they take comfort in their extra-Scriptural traditions they’ve come up with. Jesus issues a stinging rebuke: “So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.”
Once again, the Pharisees piety was a show (hypocrite means play-actor). They play like they honor God, but their hearts are oriented elsewhere. They are more concerned with the doctrines of men than with the law of God.
Jesus presses his case against the Scribes and Pharisees. The mouth reveals the heart. The outside reveals the inside: “For out of the heart” comes all manner of evil. The Pharisees have things backwards.
The Pharisees who should have been prepared to demonstrate faith in Jesus but are upstaged then by a Canaanite woman. She seeks mercy from Jesus so that her daughter might be healed from a demon. Jesus responds: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The Gentile lady doesn’t give up: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Jesus commends her faith and grants her request.
Elisha raises a woman’s child from the dead (2 Kings 4:18-37). And here Jesus performs a similar work for another woman.
Reflection
What should the relationship be between tradition and the Word of God?